This November, voters will weigh in on Proposition 39, a measure that would require Californians to show a government-issued ID when voting in person, or supply the last four digits of an ID number when voting by mail. The initiative also directs the state to provide free identification cards to residents who don’t already have one, and it calls for tighter maintenance of voter rolls, including stronger citizenship verification.

Bill Jones, who served two terms as California’s secretary of state and oversaw the state’s elections office, says he’s backing the measure because he believes voter confidence and voter participation go hand in hand — not because he thinks fraud is widespread in California, but because he believes the system currently has fewer safeguards than it once did.

“A voter who doubts the process is a voter who eventually disengages,” Jones said, explaining his support for the initiative. “For elections to work, participation and integrity depend on each other.”

Jones argues that Proposition 39 would not create new obstacles for eligible voters, since the required ID would be free and easily accessible. He also points out that California would be joining the majority of states nationwide — 36 in total — that already require some form of identification to vote, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Supporters of the measure say it addresses a long-standing weak spot in California’s election system: a voter registration list that isn’t always promptly updated to remove duplicate entries, deceased voters or people who were mistakenly added. Jones contends that stronger identity checks, paired with more diligent list maintenance, would help restore public trust without shutting anyone out of the process.

The measure qualified for the ballot earlier this year after gathering signatures from a politically diverse coalition of supporters. But it has also become a point of contention over how it’s described to voters. In July, the state Attorney General’s office revised the official ballot language, now stating that the initiative “prohibits citizens from voting” unless they present identification — wording that Jones and other supporters argue mischaracterizes a policy already in place across much of the country, under both Democratic and Republican leadership.

Jones, who has observed elections abroad as part of international monitoring efforts, said his time watching Mexico’s electoral system rebuild credibility after decades of one-party rule shaped his views on the value of identity verification. During that trip, he recalled seeing voters present identification and have their fingers marked with ink to prevent duplicate voting — a system designed to reassure the public that election results reflected the true will of voters.

While he acknowledges California’s challenges are far different from Mexico’s political history, Jones said the comparison illustrates a broader point: safeguards matter most when public trust is fragile. He noted that California currently mails ballots automatically to registered voters, including some who may have moved, and permits ballot collection practices — commonly known as ballot harvesting — that didn’t exist during his time overseeing state elections.

Jones was careful to note that none of these practices point to widespread fraud. Rather, he said, they highlight gaps in oversight at a time when confidence in public institutions, including elections, has been declining nationally.

“Prop. 39 doesn’t solve every problem with American elections,” Jones said. “But it does something achievable — it makes California’s system harder to doubt.”

Not everyone agrees that the measure would strengthen elections without unintended consequences. Critics, including civic engagement advocates, argue that voter ID requirements — even those offering free identification — can create new barriers for voters who lack easy access to documentation, transportation or the resources needed to obtain an ID before Election Day. Opponents worry the proposal could disproportionately affect lower-income residents, elderly voters, or those in rural and underserved communities across the Inland Empire and beyond.

As the November election approaches, voters throughout Southern California will be asked to weigh those competing concerns: whether tighter identification rules will restore confidence in the state’s election system, or whether they risk making it harder for eligible residents to cast a ballot.

Original source: CalMatters

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In a hotel ballroom in Seattle, at fancy homes in California and at stops in Illinois and Wisconsin over the past week, Biden has been betting that reminding voters about Trump’s presidency and highlighting his Republican opponent’s latest campaign statements will work to the Democrat’s advantage.

At a Seattle fundraiser Friday night, Biden brought up Trump’s recent interview with Time magazine in which Trump said states should be left to determine whether to prosecute women for abortions or to monitor their pregnancies.

“I really urge you to read it,” Biden said.

Biden, who headlined another Seattle fundraiser Saturday before returning to the East Coast, has plenty of other Trump material to draw from, too.

The president highlights how Trump has promised, if elected, to be “a dictator on Day 1”, how he has suggested the United States would not necessarily defend allies from aggression and how he has pledged to “totally obliterate the deep state” in the federal bureaucracy, which he blames for blocking his first-term agenda.

“And he said a whole lot more,” Biden said during a Chicago appearance. “But the bad news is he means what he says. He means what he says. Unless you think I’m kidding, just think back to the 6th of January. This guy means what he says,” referring to the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Biden wants the 2024 election to be a referendum on Trump’s record and plans, but he also wants voters to look favorably on his own policies and actions.

Biden and his allies think the country needs reminding about Trump’s tenure and his outlandish and often concerning statements, particularly because the Republican is no longer ubiquitous on X, formerly Twitter, nor is he in front of television cameras as often as he once was.

“Chaos is nothing new for Trump,” Biden said in Chicago. “His presidency was chaos. Trump is trying to make the — the country forget about the dark and unsettling things that he did when he was president. Well, we’re going to not let them forget.”

Biden frequently highlights Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election and how he stood by when supporters violently stormed the Capitol as Congress met to certify his loss to Biden. He also points to Trump separating children from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border, tax cuts the Republican pushed through that benefited corporations and the wealthy and his repeated efforts to overturn the Affordable Care Act.

Biden’s barbs have been getting sharper of late.

He opened his Seattle fundraiser on Friday night by telling donors, “Thank you for the warm welcome. Please keep it down, because Donald Trump is sleeping. Sleepy Don.” That was a riff off of news reports that the former president has dozed off during his criminal trial in a New York courtroom. Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges in a hush money scheme to illegally influence the 2016 presidential election.

Biden also talks about Trump’s admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his self-described “love letters” with Kim Jong Un, the authoritarian leader of North Korea.

Biden frequently jabs at Trump for wondering aloud during the COVID-19 pandemic whether disinfectants could be injected or ingested to fight the virus. “That bleach he didn’t inject in his body; he just put it in his hair,” Biden says to laughter every time. “But, look, he’s got more hair than I do.”

Trump’s campaign said in a statement that “their records speak for themselves. President Trump created the most secure border in history and peace in the world. President Trump was the first president in modern history not to enter the U.S. in any new wars. Joe Biden’s weakness has led to wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, an immigrant invasion of our border, anti-Semitic protests on our college campuses, and crime and chaos in every American city.”

Trump doesn’t hesitate to criticize Biden and his policies. Trump is spending much of his time lately sitting in court. But before and after the proceedings, he often stands in front of cameras outside the courtroom and goes after Biden.

At a recent Wisconsin rally, Trump mentioned Biden within the first 2½ minutes of his speech and referenced the president or his administration more than 60 times during his remarks.

Trump’s criticism often takes a dark turn. Last weekend, he told donors at his Florida resort that Biden was running a “Gestapo administration.”

The Gestapo was the secret police force of the Third Reich that squelched political opposition generally and, specifically, targeted Jewish people for arrest during the Holocaust. Trump’s unfounded comparison to Nazi-era tactics is part of his effort to deny and deflect the charges against him, most notably his effort to overturn Biden’s 2020 victory.

Biden’s strategy is a gamble. Voters are divided in their views of both men’s presidencies.

An April poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that nearly half thought Trump’s presidency hurt the country on voting rights and election security, relations with foreign countries, abortion laws and climate change. But more than half of U.S. adults thought Biden’s presidency hurt the country on cost of living and immigration.

For all his criticism of Trump, Biden does get around to talking about his agenda and accomplishments. He tells supporters about his work to boost the economy and to bring the country out of the pandemic. He discusses his support for abortion rights even as he highlights how Trump has taken credit for the overturning of Roe v. Wade in part because of his Supreme Court nominations.

“Folks, the choice is clear,” Biden told supporters recently in the nation’s capital. “Donald Trump’s vision of America is one of revenge and retribution.”

“I’ve never been more optimistic about America’s chances,” he went on. “Not because I’m president, because of the state of the moment. The world needs us.”

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